Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by JWK, Jan 1, 2024.

  1. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    I'm on a fixed rate for power and have been taking out fixed rates for years. I never take the ones they offer but always manage to get them lower than their, supposedly, "Our fixed rates are fixed" stance. It's a hobby of mine to haggle over everything :roflol:
     
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    • RowlandsCastle

      RowlandsCastle Total Gardener

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      We pay £116 per month for gas and electricity combined. Fixed for 18 months. However, we're still in credit at this time of the year. We did have a new boiler installed in April, so I'm hoping the amount is an accurate estimate of our usage.
       
    • KT53

      KT53 Gardener

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      One of the public sector unions is now demanding that labour 'correct' all the pay increases of below inflation over the past 15 to 20 years. Cost would only apparently be about £50 billion, so nothing for Labour to lose sleep over.
       
    • DiggersJo

      DiggersJo Head Gardener

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      Well this would not be my go to news media, but it came up in a quick web search. If correct, then there are 140,000 already liable for tax this year. I would guess these are old pension scheme (pre 2016) with a large additional component. You can see HMRC are already saying they won’t be pursuing small amounts, but it also gives an indication of the reason the government (s) would be in a panic. There are a potential 1.7 million on 100% pension and that’s without those on less, but other income. The Tories knew the score and had a plan of sorts to "square the circle" i.e. bring back the increase in tax allowance for pensioners, but not low income workers – too much cost there… as some would say “to be fair” they did cut NI . Personally I think it would be by far better to reinstate the lower tax allowance increases, but they won’t because of dogma (and lost revenue). It will suit them to “pinch” the Tory idea as it costs a lot less and the Tories can’t really argue with it. A rough calculation and I reckon the one year WFP claw-back is worth more per person than the 2 year freeze on the tax allowance, along with many more things, it will change!
       
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      • DiggersJo

        DiggersJo Head Gardener

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        Truss spent that amount in a few days gambling.
         
      • BB3

        BB3 Gardener

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        Orange?
         
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        • LunarSea

          LunarSea Front Garden Curator

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          Indeed. They made a total cockup of my tax a few years back. And then lied to cover up their error.

          They have a four stage complaints procedure and I got as far as stage 3 (Government Adjudicator) before they finally admitted fault. I got £100 compensation but no proper apology for the year of my life I wasted.
           
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          • pete

            pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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            I tried to contact the Tax office online a few years ago, I remember jumping through loads of hoops in order to get my account set up, it took ages.

            Once I finally sorted it out and got into their website I couldn't work out how you contacted them, I just ended up go round in circles .

            I gave up in the end and have never looked at it again, I just dont need all that hassle to get nowhere.
             
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            • ViewAhead

              ViewAhead Head Gardener

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              I got stuck in a loop with setting up voice recognition on their phone system (later withdrawn under orders of some Watchdog).
               
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              • pete

                pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                Bearing in mind that the winter is coming on and Scrooge has nicked the winter heating payout for those that are just surviving I had a thought.
                Heated car seats have been very common for many years now, but heated arm chairs for use in the house dont seem that common.

                Is there some reason, it cant be that difficult to manufacture and surely would run on a very low energy setting.

                Anybody got one?
                 
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                • pete

                  pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                  Whats all this winging about driving tests.
                  I passed in 1974 and it was a known fact back then that you booked a test as soon as you started lessons, a 6 month wait for a test was fairly normal.

                  I live in the county town and back then we didn't even have a test centre and had to go to Medway or Ashford for testing.
                  Its nothing new.
                   
                • DiggersJo

                  DiggersJo Head Gardener

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                  You get these leaflets once you are of a certain age with pictures of comfy heated boots that you sit with your feet in them, forget you have them on and try to walk off.... It's warm in hospital, but I've been told the foods not nice....:)
                   
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                  • cactus_girl

                    cactus_girl Super Gardener

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                    How about a cat on your lap?

                    I read somewhere that you could heat your home with just cats. You would need about 20.

                    Final thought - are we going to lose our Xmas box too!
                     
                  • Bluejayway

                    Bluejayway Plantaholic

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                    That tenner comes in very handy!
                     
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                    • pete

                      pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                      I'm not sure who told you the food was nice, the last time I was in an NHS place it was about four hours old and kept warm on a heated trolly.

                      God it was awful mush, whatever you ordered it all looked the same, totally diabolical.

                      I missed the word NOT.:biggrin:
                       
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